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49 pc foreign investment limit for DTH

At a press meet within hours of the cabinet meeting earlier in the morning, where the proposal by a Group of Ministers was approved, Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj said foreign direct investment would be limited to 20 per cent. However, investment by non-resident Indians, overseas corporate bodies and foreign institutional investors could be of 49 per cent.

Uplinking will mandatory from earth stations to be set up in India and cross-media holding will be limited to 20 per cent. All parties setting up DTH platforms in India will be subject to advertising and broadcasting codes. There will be an entry fee of Rs 100 million and 10 per cent of the annual revenue will be payable to the government as annual fee.

The United Front government had on July 16, 1997 barred anyone from establishing, maintaining, possessing or dealing in special antennae capable of receiving beams of signals in Ku-Band (4800 MHz, on which DTH can be beamed) for broadcasting. The ban came soon after Australian media baron Rupert Murdoch's STAR TV demonstrated its capacity to set up a DTH platform in the country.

On December 19, 1996, the government had passed a gazette notification banning receipt of signals in Ku-Band.

Swaraj said the ban in 1997 had come because there was no way to check the content of the broadcaster as uplinking was being done from abroad. But uplinking from within the country had been permitted in three phases and all satellite television channels beaming into India had been brought within the ambit of the country's advertising and broadcasting codes.

She also said that the Ku bandwidth (frequency bands above 4800 MHz) could not just restricted to television and should be made accessible to sectors like telecom and the information technology sector, with the country proceeding fast towards convergence of info-tech, communications and entertainment.

She said licences would be issued for 10 years on a non-exclusive basis and licencees must set up DTH platforms within a year. The applicant company had to be an Indian with Indian management control. Violation of any of the conditions of the licence could lead to revocation of licence and a penalty of up to Rs 500 million.

All broadcasters will have to keep a record of programmes and advertisements carried on the platform for 90 days after broadcasting and these would have to be made available to the authorised representative of the licenser when required.

Although licensees could use the bandwith capacity on Indian and foreign satellites, those using the former would be given preference.

While Prasar Bharati can apply for a licence for setting up a DTH platform on the same terms as other applicants, the government has also decided that the DTH licencee would be bound to carry channels of Prasar Bharati on the most favourable terms offered to any other channel.

The government has reserved the right to prohibit the transmission of any telecasts in national interest and the licencee will not carry channels prohibited by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. Similarly, only lawfully permitted equipment will be used.

Swaraj said safeguards had been adopted in the interests of national security and morality and steps had been taken to prevent vertical monopoly and integration between platform licencees and cable operators or broadcasters.

It has been clarified that those wanting to use DTH for other purposes like voice, fax, data communication or internet would have to obtain separate licences. Necessary clearances would have to obtained from the Wireless Planning Coordination Wing and the Department of Space.

DTH in digital mode with better clarity can be received directly at the home of the subscriber with an antennae of 12 to 18 inches diameter instead of going through cable operators and is therefore also accessible in areas not served by cable operators.

While the I&B ministry was the administrative ministry for the Group of Ministers, Law Minister Arun Jaitley had prepared a note for the group on the legal aspects of DTH vis-a-vis the present scenario in the country.

The Group of Ministers, set up by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in January this year under the chairmanship of Home Minister L K Advani included Swaraj, Jaitley and Information Technology Minister Pramaod Mahajan.

Interestingly, the review committee comprising infotech expert N Narayanamurthy, marketing guru Shunu Sen and head of Discovery Channel (India) Kiran Karnik, which went into restructuring Prasar Bharati had recommended that it should move quickly to create a DTH platform as also explore the feasibility of a strategic tie-up initially with Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited to set up an independent cable TV arm.

Last year, just before the general elections, another Group of Ministers had taken a decision in principle to allow DTH services in the country with DD being the sole player for a specified number of years, but the Election Commission did not allow it to go through.

That proposal had envisaged other broadcasters coming on to a platform put up by DD as channel providers on a revenue sharing basis.

Doordarshan had in 1995 signed a memorandum of understanding with MEASAT of Malaysia for setting up a DTH platform and conducted some studies. However, the government failed to renew the MOU after a year and the initiative had come to nought.

UNI

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